Pizza Heads:

Inside the skull, I think it needed more "brains and blood", I'll remember that next time:

And lots of freshly pressed apple cider, a mix of Red Delicious, Wolf River, an unnamed yellow russet from a neighbor's tree and a few MacIntosh:

I put three more gallons in the freezer for the rest of the family, and 20 quarts in my own freezer, for future use:

Happy Halloween!

Annie

Wow! Annie, that skull, er, "head", is really cool! It's creepy and spooky without being gross, and it looks like it tastes a lot better than most Halloween fare! Great job! Love the simple scarecrow costumes too. ;)

The pizza heads are appropriately creepy! I envy your family the cider. I love cider. Fortunately, we have a local orchard that makes really good cider.

(I also don't understand why pictures can't be posted on original posts. I thought it was just me!)

I know of no place that can sell unpasteurized cider....and you know that pasteurized cider is just apple juice! It's been years since I have had cider that really IS cider!!
What kind of mold did you use for the pizza head?

Snow !!??...(noooo!.) Still odd and warm here. Just drove home in a horrid thunderstorm. Fallen leaves are blocking the storm drains. The last 15 miles I ran the alert flashers going slow 35-40.

Need to pull in my Meyer lemon and misc plants. lots of green tomatoes and so much fruit that needs attention. it should be fine stored a few weeks until we can get to it. Juiced and froze some asian pears last weekend.

Good costumes at work. I made 'spa water' juices. Took co-worker photos for a few days...put them in various fridges...lol.

(we call it 'spa water'...water infused with fruit).

Creepy in a good way. (I think, lol)

Sleevendog, I love the water bottles!!! I've got to remember that for next year.

LindaC, it's illegal to sell unpasteurized cider here in Michigan too. That's why I don't sell any, I just raise the apples, wash them, cut out the bad spots and toss them into the hand cranked cider press. I have a refrigerator on the porch that holds cold drinks and eggs and holiday "overflow". The top shelf of that freezer is dedicated to quarts of apple cider. I can get 20 in there, and so right now it's full.

You are right, if it's heated, it's just apple juice. That's why I don't can it, I freeze it. And sometimes I make some apple cider jelly or cook some down to apple cider syrup.

Annie

Do you ever make hard cider? I think it was my great-grandfather who did that (possibly in Michigan).

We made hard cider in college.....put raisins in unpasteurized cider.....and when it got good and bubbly, hung it out the window or put it on the fire escape to freeze.....and the alcohol in the bottom didn't.

Sleevendog, cider mills around here make some great pasteurized cider. Flash pasteurization can be done with specialized equipment to give a product almost identical to unpasteurized cider in taste. It only takes 155 degrees for 6 seconds. Of course, doing that in our homes is not likely to happen. Temps over 175 degrees change the cider A LOT. Then it is what I would call apple juice. Some places use UV pasteurization which also gives a good product.

Michigan has a lot of great cider. There is a competition for best cider each year at a huge fruit and veggie expo held in Grand Rapids each December. A multi-year winner has product available at a market two miles from our house. Yum.

Annie - I love the pizza heads and would also be interested in what sort of mold you used.

I’ve had cider that borders on tasting like apple juice, but the local cider is still very good. Jealous of having it fresh pressed from backyard apples though!

Love all the pix, Annie! Those skulls!

The skulls were made using a NordicWare skull pan, like this one:

https://www.nordicware.com/catalog/product/view/_ignore_category/1/id/2451/s/haunted-skull-cakelet-pan/

I did NOT pay $42.50 for it, I found it at the local Meijer for about $20 and they are also on Amazon, I think. One batch of pizza dough made 3 skulls, they are pretty good sized, and I've got to figure out how to make the dough thinner...

Naturegirl, I go to that Agricultural Expo most years, there's a lot of information available there. There is some good cider available, for about $5 a gallon, which is kind of pricey, I think. Home procedures, as you said, just makes apple juice, the "big guys" have equipment that I don't have access to.

Annie